Intumescent materials have been known for many years and have been developed to the point where some claim to provide thermal protection up to approximately 2000.degree. F. However, this is not a sufficiently high level of fire protection in a number of environments, including home, office, and industrial applications.
In addition, intumescent materials are not capable of conducting an electric current and becoming part of an electrical circuit. Thus, they are not presently capable of forming part of an alarm system, or being used as an antenna, or preventing electromagnetic interference (EMI), or radio frequency interference (RFI).
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved fire-retardant and electrically-conductive coating material that is effective at continuously-maintained temperatures as high as 4000.degree. F. and that can be used in a number of different applications to protect various types of substrates.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved fire-retardant and electrically-conductive coating material that has a fluid consistency and includes a novel combination of an intumescent material and electrically-conductive material dispersed therein, and wherein the size of the conductive particles may be varied to vary the consistency of the composition from a sprayable fluid to a thick fluid which is applied by a trowel, or articles to be coated may be dipped into the material.